


She Cries in the Night

by dragonflycas



Series: College AU [2]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, accidental cat adoption, really this is just a fluff monster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 17:20:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10723785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonflycas/pseuds/dragonflycas
Summary: Geno finds a cat and Sid's a sucker.





	She Cries in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Half-based on my own experience finding a kitten outside my dorm at 2am last August.
> 
> This is still part of that larger fic I should have written but haven't yet, set around February of Sid and Geno's Junior year.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @whykidtango or twitter @russiawithgeno

_Quick, quick, past the defense, to the net, in. The crowd is roaring, rhythmic, his name chanted over and over, teammates crashing in and shaking him. Sid! Sid! Sid! The chanting continues. The shaking continues. A lot of shaking. That’s enough shaking, they have to get back to the game. Stop it, stop._

Sid flails into consciousness, squinting blearily up into the dark and having a near heart attack at the shadowy figure leaning over him. After a second he gathers enough brain cells to realize it’s just Geno, but his heart’s still racing as he sits up and rubs the sleep out of his eyes. Geno always comes to bed later than him, but he’s gotten pretty good at slipping in without waking Sid, so why the shaking?

“G, wh-” he starts, but is cut off by a pathetic cry coming from somewhere in the vicinity of Geno’s chest. Sid blinks, trying to see anything in the weak light filtering in from the hall. “Geno?”

“Found outside, Sid. Crying, all alone,” Geno says in a rush before murmuring softly in Russian at the... kitten? Sid’s pretty sure it’s a kitten, from the sound of it. She’s still wailing, obviously distressed. Sid turns to peer at the clock. 2:07am. Great.

“Bathroom,” he sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face and hopping off the bed. He leads the way into the bathroom and nudges the door closed behind them with his foot. It’s an incredibly tight squeeze; there’s a reason they stagger their morning routines. At least this way the kitten can’t run off anywhere if she struggles out of Geno’s hands. Which seems unlikely, she’s half the size of his palms alone.

Sid can see her clearly now, a tiny ball of stripey fluff, peeking out from where he has her cradled just over his heart. “You just… found her?” His brain is still booting up, but he’s pretty sure that’s what Geno said.

“Alone,” Geno confirms with a nod, stroking her head with one finger. She’s settled a little, but is still letting out those piercing cries every minute or so. She’s loud for such a tiny thing. “Can’t find mama or brothers or sisters. She too small to be alone, probably cold and hungry and scared.”

“No pet store’s gonna be open this late,” Sid frowns, trying to think of what to do next. No way they can just put her back outside if there really isn’t a mama cat around to take care of her, but it isn’t like they have a litter box and some cat food just lying around. “I think we’ve got some tuna?” Cats can eat that, right? Big ones can, he thinks, hopefully little ones too.

“Stay here,” he instructs, as if Geno looks like he’d let the cat out of his sight. He’s staring down at her with a dangerously fond expression, one Sid recognizes because it’s been so often directed at him. That can be dealt with later. Sid hurries downstairs and fishes a can of tuna from their cabinet, mashing it up a little in a bowl and filling another bowl with water before carrying them both back to the bathroom. Geno has somehow folded himself down to sit cross-legged on the floor, the kitten curled up on his thigh. In the five minutes Sid has been gone she’s switched from scared and screaming to content and purring. Animals always love Geno, probably because they can tell that he adores them. The sound fills the room like a tiny motor, louder than something so small should be capable of.

Once he gets the door closed Sid moves to sit too, able to tell as soon as he does that the cramped position will hurt soon. Oh well. He sets the bowls of water and tuna on the floor in front of them and Geno carefully lifts the kitten from his lap, placing her in front of the tuna. She sniffs it, laps up a bit of the tuna water, and then turns and wobbles her way towards the shower. She seems even smaller on her own, maybe the size of a tennis ball plus fur.

She starts crying again and even though he’s trying to stay detached Sid’s heart aches. Geno scoops her up immediately, cradling her to his chest and murmuring in Russian. This has to be cut off, quickly. Non-service animals absolutely aren’t allowed in school-owned housing and Sid feels queasy just thinking of what will happen if they’re found to be harboring an illegal pet.

“Geno…” he starts, swallowing when his boyfriend looks up at him, eyes devastatingly soft. He loves animals so much; his kind nature is one of the reasons Sid loves him, and he hates having to be the bad guy but… “We have to take her to a shelter in the morning.” He expected sadness and disappointment but that doesn’t make it hurt any less to watch Geno’s face fall. “We’re not allowed to have pets,” Sid reminds as Geno looks back down at the kitten, who has quieted in his hands. Great, now she’s getting attached right back, that’s sure helpful.

“Could hide,” Geno suggests after a moment, expression hopeful now as he looks at Sid again. “She so tiny. Keep in room, keep secret.”

“She won’t be tiny forever,” Sid points out, shaking his head. He has to be the realist here, Geno’s heart is too big. “And she was screaming her head off earlier, what if the neighbors hear and report it to the RA?”

“Could talk to neighbors, ask not to tell. They nice,” Geno retorts, frowning as he sets the kitten down by the tuna again. She seems more interested this time, though she only licks at it instead of biting. Maybe she isn’t even weaned, she’s so small. Where has her mom gone?

Sid sighs, dragging a hand through his hair. “We’ll finish this in the morning,” he decides, glancing at the black outside the tiny bathroom window. “It’s like, 2:30 and you have a test tomorrow. We gotta sleep.”

“Can’t leave her alone,” Geno protests.

“You have a test,” Sid repeats slowly. Even Geno has to realize an exam is more important than sitting in a bathroom all night just so a kitten won’t feel lonely.

“Can skip, tell teacher I’m sick, ask to make up.”

“Bullshit. You’re a science major, no way your teacher’s gonna give you any slack.” Sid reaches over and puts a hand on Geno’s shoulder, squeezing. “She’s gonna be fine, bud. She’s warm and dry and has some food and water. She’ll probably pee on the floor but whatever, we’ll deal with that tomorrow. You need sleep.” He stands and holds out a hand to Geno, raising his eyebrows. Geno looks back at the kitten for a moment before sighing and standing up, following Sid back out and closing the door quickly before the kitten can escape.

She starts crying again immediately and Sid has to grab Geno’s wrist to stop him opening the door back up. “She’ll be okay,” he says firmly, dragging Geno back to their room. Geno makes noises the whole way but doesn’t fight, allowing Sid to manhandle him into bed and curl up against his chest.

“You just jealous,” Geno teases, pressing a soft kiss to the back of Sid’s neck. “Want all cuddles to self.”

“Shut up and go to sleep,” Sid grumbles, but he knows his boyfriend can hear the smile in his voice as he snuggles into the covers. He can still hear the poor kitten and worries it’ll keep him awake, but only moments later he’s snoring.

********

Sid wakes up and Geno’s gone. Sid’s always awake first, and he panics for a moment that he’s sick and overslept before he looks at the clock and realizes it’s still only 8am. Geno’s never up this early. Sid frowns and sits up, then remembers what happened the night before. The kitten. Of course Geno got up to check on the kitten.

After throwing on some clothes Sid pads out into the hall and knocks at the closed bathroom door. “Come in,” Geno calls. Sid opens the door and slips in, closing it behind him and looking down at Geno. He’s sitting cross-legged on the floor again, leaning against the wall, and the kitten is curled up on his shoulder right against his neck, purring loudly. Geno’s beaming, happiness radiating out of him, and Sid just _knows_ he’s fucked before his boyfriend even speaks. “I call shelters. All full, can’t take one so small. Need special care.”

“And we can give her that, with no experience and full class schedules?” Sid raises his eyebrows as he folds himself down to sit too, glancing around and realizing the bathroom is suspiciously spotless.

“I clean,” Geno says proudly, noticing his look. “Also call vet, we take her this afternoon. Can get everything we need from pet store, ask google how take care of very small kitten.” Sid feels disconcertingly like a parent whose child is trying desperately to prove they’re responsible enough to get a puppy. Geno’s staring at him, all hopeful and wide-eyed. “I’m name her Dixie,” he adds, and Sid gives up. He’s never going to be able to crush Geno’s heart by saying they have to send her away, even if this risks both of their places at the school.

“Fine, you can keep her,” he sighs, biting back a smile when Geno beams at him and starts forward, obviously wanting to hug Sid but then quickly stopping himself when the kitten wakes up and mews in protest of the movement. Sid crosses the distance for him, leaning over for a soft kiss. “But she’s yours,” he insists sternly, gesturing at the bowls in the corner. “You feed her, clean up after her, teach her to be a proper cat since her mom can’t. And you deal with it if the RA gets wind of anything.”

“Will talk to neighbor, tell her how good cat she is, make sure they not tell,” Geno assures. Sid nods, wondering if Geno is going to actually ask nicely or loom over them with his Just Try It look. Best not to know, then he can’t feel culpable in the intimidation.

“Did you even sleep?” Sid asks, squinting at Geno and preparing to go into full Lecture Mode if it turns out he just waited for Sid to start snoring and then snuck back to the bathroom.

“Five hours,” Geno shrugs. “Will nap later.” Sid frowns, doing quick calculations. Geno’s exam starts at eleven, that’s plenty of time.

“Go back to bed,” he says, rolling his eyes when Geno cups a hand over the sleeping kitten as if that proves he’s immovable. “Give her to me and go back to bed for two hours, then you’ll still have time to eat and get to class. You have to be well-rested for your test.”

“You not give away while I sleep?” Geno asks, mostly teasing but still looking a little nervous as he carefully lifts the kitten from his shoulder.

“Thanks for that vote of confidence,” Sid rolls his eyes, carefully scooping the kitten into his own hands. She’s warm and so, so small, heartbeat fluttering against his fingers as she mews in distress. She’s obviously adopted Geno as her new mama cat already. “I’m a dog person, not a monster,” he huffs, stroking a finger gently over her head.

“Be good, make friends,” Geno instructs, and Sid is embarrassed that it takes him a full fifteen seconds to realize he’s talking to the cat. He tips his head up for a kiss and then shuffles out of the way as Geno slips out the door.

“Set an alarm! I’m leaving for class at 9:15!” he calls after him, looking back down at the kitten - at Dixie - once they’re alone. She blinks back at him, eyes too big for her face. He has to admit, she’s pretty cute. “Hi,” he says, glad there’s no one there to hear him. She doesn’t meow back.

He spends an hour there with her. For part of it she just sleeps on him while he plays with his phone, and for part she chases the string from his sweatpants. She’s pretty bad at attacking things, she falls over most times she tries, and it’s the cutest thing ever. He ends up with an embarrassing amount of pictures of her on his phone, and realizes as he forces himself to leave for class that he’s probably just as in love as Geno is by now. So much for Dixie just being Geno’s.


End file.
